In many semiautomatic and/or fully automatic firearms driven by gas operating systems, the barrels of such firearms typically are surrounded by a hand guard or forward grip portion with the barrel generally mounted in a “free floating” arrangement out of contact with the hand guard. The hand guard or forward grip portion enables the operator to grip the firearm securely along the barrel portion thereof, without coming into contact with the barrel, which can become extremely hot during the firing of the weapon. Additionally, the hand guard can provide for the mounting of rails, lights and other accessories along the firearm.
Typically, many firearm hand guards have been designed to be removable so as to enable access to the barrel and/or gas system of the firearm for purposes of cleaning and/or replacement of the barrel and/or gas system components of the firearm. Such removable hand guards often are fastened to the barrel nut and/or upper receiver of the firearm with screws or other, similar fasteners. Such fasteners can, however, present difficulties in removing and/or tightly securing the hand guard to the upper receiver, typically requiring tools, such as wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. be readily available to the shooter in order to remove the screws, or other fasteners. In addition, it is often necessary to remove the barrel nut and/or the entire barrel assembly to remove such hand guards for change-out or replacement of the hand guard.
Accordingly, a need exists for an attachment system for attaching a hand guard or forward grip to a receiver of a firearm that address the foregoing and other related and unrelated problems in the art.